


Compulsory Conversations

by WritersLeft



Series: friends, foes, and fields of fun [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Eventual reveal, Everyone is tired, Gen, LGBTQ Themes, Queer Themes, They're all friends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:02:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25702510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritersLeft/pseuds/WritersLeft
Summary: "Something happened today." Ladybug pauses."Were you hurt? Are you okay?""I'm fine, Chat." She takes a breath. "Someone found out who I am today."Rated T for LanguageThe aftermath of Forced Out of the CupboardThey're all being overworked and want a break. But it's okay because they're there for each other.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste & Chloé Bourgeois & Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng & Nino Lahiffe, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: friends, foes, and fields of fun [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1864057
Comments: 9
Kudos: 67





	1. Chapter 1

Chat Noir has always loved the freedom his miraculous has given him. It’s a way for him to actually experience life before it’s too late. He’s always known that objectively, yes, Paris is beautiful. But it’s a completely different experience to actually see Paris and see that it actually lives up to its reputation — it truly is beautiful.

And it’s a whole other thing to see it at night. Chat jumps from roof to roof, using his baton occasionally. As he gets closer to the roof he and Ladybug usually meet up at, he smells the scent of pastries. That means something’s up with Ladybug.

When he lands on their roof, he immediately notices that Ladybug is slightly curled into herself, trying to become smaller. But she has a small smile on her face, though it looks to be a nervous one, so Chat isn’t too worried.

“What’s up with this, Ladybug?” Chat figures it’s best to not piss her off more than necessary if she’s already upset. Sadly, that means no nicknames. Or less than usual.

“Oh…” Ladybug starts, as though she’s been shaken out of a daydream. Not a very dreamy one from the looks of it. “Well…” She looks down at her feet, scrunching her shoulders towards her chest. She takes a breath and looks back up at Chat, meeting his eyes. “Something happened today.” She pauses again. She pulls a pastry out of the bag she was holding and offers it to Chat, but he bats it away.

“Were you hurt? Are you okay?” Chat makes his way over to her, as if he needs evidence that she’s okay.

Ladybug forces a chuckle before saying, “I’m fine, Chat. I’m not hurt or anything.” She takes a breath before schooling her features into a serious expression. “Someone found out who I am today,” she says in a rush, as if she knows that if she doesn’t say it fast enough, she won’t say it at all.

Chat inhales sharply, before sighing softly. “Oh. Did it turn out okay? Or do we need to go threaten someone?”

“No, no, it was fine. He’s a friend. He took it well. No need to threaten anyone, sorry to disappoint.”

“Okay, well good. I’m glad things worked out. Should we start patrol then?” Chat’s words are slightly clipped, even though he’s trying to hide his hurt. It isn’t Ladybug’s fault someone else figured out who she is. He just figured he’d be the first to know. Oh well, he’ll get over it eventually.

“Wait, Chat.” Ladybug sounds hurt and when he glances back at her, she’s smaller than she was at the start of their conversation. Chat internally groaned. The last thing he wanted was to contribute to Ladybug’s pain. “I wanted to tell you because I know that if our roles were reversed I would be upset. I know that we’ve always kept our identities secret, but there’s been kind of an unspoken agreement that eventually we’d reveal ourselves to each other and that we’d be the first to know who the other was. I’m sorry I broke that.”

He’s sorry too, but he knows it isn’t her fault and he doesn’t want her to feel like it is. She has enough on her plate without having to worry about how an accidental reveal is affecting him. Especially when they both know, deep down, that nothing could ever drive them away from each other for long.

“Aw, Bugaboo, no need to apologize. I know what happened was an accident. No hard feelings.”

Chat smirked at Ladybug and rejoiced when she rolled her eyes and responded, “And you’re back… _great._ ”

“So does this mean we can reveal our identities to each other?” Chat asked hopefully, putting his kitten eyes to use.

“I talked to Tiki. She said it still isn’t a good idea. But she also said that we could if we want to.” Ladybug pauses. “Um, I’d like to wait a bit, though. I know that Ni— my friend took it well, but I kind of want to adjust to that. And I still don’t know how you’ll take it.”

“I’ll be overjoyed no matter who you are, my lady.” Chat’s face is open and understanding, his eyes softening at Ladybug’s obvious worry. “I just want to know all of you. But if you’re worried, we can wait longer.” Chat can’t honestly say he’s not disappointed, but he can honestly say that it’ll be worth the wait. Learning who Ladybug is as a civilian would be worth almost anything.

“Thanks, Chat. I promise we’ll reveal ourselves eventually. And by eventually, I mean soon.” Ladybug grabs her yo-yo off of her hip and gets ready to start their patrol. “And Chat?” She’s quiet, hesitant.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you. This means a lot, that you’re willing to wait even though we’re now allowed to reveal ourselves to each other. I’m still… I’m still nervous about actually revealing ourselves, but I know I can trust you and this proves it. So thank you.” She gets ready to throw her yo-yo and jump, but Chat stops her.

“Ladybug, wait!” She pauses, glancing back at Chat. “You don’t need to say thank you for this. I’m just doing what any decent person would do. And if that proves you can trust me, then I’m glad. I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize that.”

“Still…” Ladybug trails off and then shakes her head. “You ready to go?”

“Hold on, let me finish my pastry!”

“Oh, Chat,” Ladybug says, rolling her eyes fondly.

* * *

When Monday rolls around, Adrien’s alarm goes off shrilly, and much too early. He groans and leans up to shut it off before allowing his head to flop back down onto his pillow. He hadn’t gotten any extra rest that weekend due to all the modeling he’d been required to do. All Adrien wanted to do was sleep for five extra minutes. But that wasn’t possible.

“Adrien, are you up yet?” Nathalie knocks sharply on his door twice. “You need to be up. Breakfast will be served in ten minutes. Don’t be late.”

Adrien rolls over and gets out of bed. Now, in addition to being a tad bit upset about not being able to sleep in, his mood has decreased sharply after Nathalie’s words. He makes his way to the bathroom to get started on his morning routine. Plagg floats along behind him.

“Man, what a bitch. You humans are always changing what’s acceptable to call people, and I’ve had some misunderstood kittens in the past who’ve been treated unfairly, so I know there’s always more to it than there seems, but that lady truly is a bitch. Like there’s no misunderstanding her. She’s just awful.”

“Hey, now, we don’t know her entire story.” Adrien chastises, trying to stay positive. “But I guess you’re kind of right. She could at least be a little nicer, don’t you think?” Adrien was familiar with failure and usually it was something that wasn’t fun. But failing to think of Nathalie as a nice, misunderstood woman was something that he could fail without having tears spring to his eyes.

Breakfast is silent, as usual. It's a cold meal, small enough that it almost isn’t even worth eating the entire thing. He longs for some pastries or something. Maybe Marinette will bring some that he can steal from her. He just has to suffer through breakfast here and then make it to school.

Nathalie reads his schedule to him, consisting of school and homework and basketball, all things he wishes he could take a break from, but he can’t. He’ll just have to suffer through and maybe he’ll be able to catch an extra hour of sleep tonight if he goes faster.

“Time to go, Adrien. Do well in school today and make your father proud.” Nathalie doesn’t look up from her tablet as she speaks, and she doesn’t look up when she turns and leaves the room. What a dismal life that must be.

* * *

When Adrien gets to school, Nino and Alya are sitting on the stairs leaning against the wall and into each other. Oh, to have someone who craves touch as much as you must be a wonderful feeling. Alya reaches up and grabs Nino’s hand, the both of them laughing quietly and tiredly —the only acceptable way to act this early on a Monday morning — their hands meet with a familiarity and a comfort that’s only possible after time spent with one another. A wonderful feeling indeed.

Alya glances up as Adrien approaches, nudging Nino, who removes his headphones. She taps the stair below her with her foot and Adrien sits down, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes.

“Hey, Sunshine,” Alya says with a yawn. Monday mornings truly are the worst.

“Hey, Alya.” Adrien’s eyes remain closed, but he bumps Alya’s knee with his own and his eyes open briefly, just in time to see a small grin on her face.

“Hey dude,” Nino says, reaching across Alya and offering his fist for a fist bump. Adrien’s eyes remain open long enough for a fist bump and a tired nod of acknowledgement before they shut again.

The three of them remain resting on the stairs as other students show up, most of whom are also tired, moving around sluggishly and greeting others quietly, lacking the energy that’s found later in the day.

“What’s up, bitches.” Adrien opens his eyes and sees Chloe in front of him.

The three of them stare flatly at her. She rolls her eyes and plops down, propping herself up with her elbow and leaning against the stairs above her.

The first bell rings, signaling ten minutes until class starts. Their small group of four begins discussing when Marinette is going to show up, and whether or not she’ll actually be on time.

“Speak of the devil.” Alya grins as Marinette makes her way over towards them. Compared to the rest of them—barring Chloe— Marinette seems to be rather energetic.

“You guys all look so dead. It’s pitiful.” Marinette ends up leaning on Alya’s legs, seated next to Adrien, with his legs stretching over hers.

“Not me though,” Chloe says. “I’m always beautiful.” She tosses her hair back and grins. Marinette rolls her eyes.

“I didn’t say you guys weren’t beautiful—”

“But you implied it.” They all pout at her and Marinette groans.

“I was implying that your weekends were rough. You all look beautiful, even if you _could_ stand to sleep for another few hours.”

“Why thank you Marinette!”

“Oh, please continue waxing poetry about our beauty!”

“Man, I wish I could sleep for a few more hours.” Adrien grins, like it’s a joke, but it’s obvious that he’s not sleeping enough and that he really could use a few more hours of sleep.

“Don’t we all, dude. Don’t we all.” Alya and Chloe nod, agreeing with Nino as he slides his headphones back up over his ears. Alya leans more securely into him and Chloe stretches out, closing her eyes. Adrien leans forward, resting his head on his knees.

“You okay, Adrien?” Marinette asks softly, not wanting to draw attention to her question.

“Yeah, I’m fine, Mari.”

“You sure?”

“I just didn’t get a chance to sleep much this weekend. I was pretty busy with modeling.”

“I’m sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?” Adrien looks up and sees that her eyes are wide and genuine, and without second guessing himself, he reaches out and loosely grabs her hand. If she’s surprised, she hides it well, gripping his hand back, not too tight, but not too loose either — just enough to show that she’s there.

Adrien leans back against the wall, with his hand clasped in Marinette’s and Marinette’s hand clasped in his.There’s something calm and reassuring about it, and despite the fact that everything he’s ever seen tells him he should be freaking out, he isn’t. The small part of him that would be is overshadowed by the part of him that feels content. It feels right holding her hand, nice and relaxed. What a wonderful feeling indeed.


	2. Chapter 2

When the bell rings, the five of them untangle themselves from each other and make their way to the classroom. Everyone takes their seats and prepares for their day. And that literature test that had been pushed to today.

“Class, before we start, Lila has something she wants to say to everyone.” Mme Bustier gestures for Lila to come up to the front of the classroom.

Once Lila is standing at the front of the classroom, she clears her throat. “I understand that I insulted Marinette last week. And most of the rest of the class. For that, I apologize. I’m sorry you were offended. But the truth is…” Lila trails off before glancing up at Marinette. Her mouth pulls into a small smirk, but it’s hidden well and could easily be perceived as an apologetic grimace. “The truth is that I tried to come out to Marinette, but she told me that because I was just figuring things out, I had to be copying someone. She said…” Lila sniffles. “She said that because I hadn’t always known, that I wasn’t truly gay. I was hurt by what she said and so I tried to hurt her, but I ended up hurting everyone.” Tears were streaming down Lila’s face at this point. Say what you will about the girl, but she’s a damn good actress. She makes her way back to her seat, keeping up her performance (because after that, who could truly blame her if she glared at Marinette) well after she had sat back down.

The classroom is silent with the exception of Lila’s sniffles. Mme Bustier opens her mouth, but changes her mind and closes it. She repeats this several times.

Eventually she asks, “Do you have anything to say to that, Marinette?”

“I would never tell someone that because they haven’t always known something that they're invalid. People discover things all the time. About random things, or other people, or themselves. Especially themselves. We all evolve and change constantly. If someone figures out their sexuality ‘later’ than they should,” Marinette makes air quotes with her fingers here, “it just means that they can truly understand themselves and maybe feel more complete for figuring out such a key part of themselves. It isn’t a race. It’s never too late to discover something about yourself. What Lila claims I told her is false.”

Marinette sighs, unsure of whether or not she’ll be believed by her classmates. She avoids eye contact with everyone, instead choosing to stare down at her desk.

“Well…” Mme Bustier looks around her class, unsure of where to go from here. “We’ll just move on to our Literature exam and you can all sort this out later.”

And with that Mme Bustier passes out their tests and they get started.

* * *

When the bell rings for lunch, Marinette is the first one out the door. Alya grabs a paper she left behind, while Nino, Adrien, and Chloe’s eyes follow Marinette out the door, faces scrunched up with worry. Chloe makes her way over to the group.

“That fucking bitch. Marinette would never say anything like that. Ugh, for her to even insinuate…” Chloe’s anger prevents her from making coherent points, instead causing her to trail off into mutterings full of anger.

“Why would Marinette run off though?” Alya questions.

“Yeah, wouldn’t she know that we’d believe her?” Adrien is confused. Even though Marinette can be a bit of a klutz, she’s extremely confident in her beliefs and she’s usually proud of her actions. She’s someone who, when she isn’t proud of her actions, will do the right thing and figure out what went wrong. She’s not afraid to apologize, but in this case, it didn’t sound like she needed to apologize. Why on earth would she leave so suddenly if she hadn’t done anything wrong?

“It's not that she doesn’t believe in us believing her,” Nino starts, sighing.

“Yeah, we can’t blame Marinette for this. Her response to Lila was better than any of us could have done and it was sophisticated and respectful enough that it showcased her strengths and emphasized… or rather pointed out Lila’s lies.” Chloe adds, crossing her arms, but then thinking better and placing her hands on her hips.

“Exactly. She’s very composed when she needs to defend someone or something. It’s just that she doesn’t like being the center of attention.”

“Especially when it’s something that some people see as controversial. Or an argument or something like that.”

“But it wasn’t really an argument, was it?” Alya tucks away the paper and hoists her bag onto her shoulder. The four of them leave the classroom, continuing their conversation.

“Not really,” Chloe concedes. “But she was having to stand up for herself in front of others. Which is something she’s really good at—”

“Right,” Nino interrupts, continuing when Chloe waves her arm at him, motioning of him to keep talking. “But she doesn’t like having to defend herself in front of other people. It’s stressful enough having to defend yourself to someone when it’s just the people involved. Add in the rest of the class, who didn’t need to be involved at all, and it just amplifies that stress.”

“It takes a lot out of anyone to be as accepting as Marinette is to take on everyone’s struggles. So for her to be questioned publicly like that, she hates stuff like that.”

“But she always seems so confident in what she’s saying,” Adrien says.

“And she is.” Chloe responds.

“That’s the thing, though,” Nino adds, “She’s confident in what she’s saying, but she’s not always comfortable in the environment she’s saying it in. She knows she’s right, but it’s still nerve-wracking for her to say it so boldly in front of an audience.”

“Especially since the audience included us and we heard Lila lie. Now, we all know she was lying, and Marinette knows that we know that, but she’s still scared that maybe we don’t.”

“So you’re saying that we need to go talk some sense into her.” Alya marches ahead, before Nino’s arm darts out and grabs hers.

“Babe, wait.” Nino and Chloe exchange a look. “It’s not that we need to talk sense into her, it's that we need to prove that what she knows is true.”

“She doesn’t need us to charge in and tell her what she already knows. That won’t help her. She knows that we don’t believe Lila, she just needs to convince herself that. Us saying it will just make things worse.”

“I don’t get it. I can’t go in there and start talking shit about Lila?” Alya huffs. “She’s my best friend, how am I supposed to help her?"  
“No, that’s probably a good way to go about it. You just can’t outright say that you believe her. She knows that we do, and us saying that will only make her more anxious about the situation. With her, it’s best to be subtle. That’s not true for everyone, but for her it is.”

“How do the two of you know all this?” Adrien asks. Even if Nino and Marinette used to be friends, and Chloe and Marinette used to date, it seems as though it was a long time ago and that they don’t know her as she is now as well as they know who she used to be.

“Our class is pretty tight.” Chloe and Nino grin at each other and they all enter the locker room.

Marinette is standing in front of her open locker, with her head almost inside of it. Lila is standing on the other side of the room, smirking over at her. She makes her way over to Marinette, but Chloe beats her to it, leaving Lila to Adrien, Nino, and Alya.

“One day, all these lies are going to come back and bite you in the ass.” Alya sneers at Lila.

“Oh, I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about. If anyone’s lying, it’s Marinette.” Lila’s eyes are wide, innocent. But the three of them know she’s faking it and that knowledge makes it so much more obvious.

Their little group turns around from their confrontation and sees Chloe open her arms. By the time they make their way over to Chloe and Marinette, Chloe is holding Marinette, and Marinette has her face hidden in Chloe’s neck. She’s breathing harder than normal, but from what he can tell, Adrien doesn’t think she’s crying.

“That fucking bitch!” Alya softly kicks a locker with her foot. After making contact she swears, complaining about the pain.

Marinette readjusts her head to rest on Chloe’s shoulder so that she can see the rest of them. She laughs.

“This is why we don’t kick things, Alya. Like metal. Metal is bad for kicking.”

Alya rolls her eyes and says, “What’s this? You’re giving Chloe one of your magical hugs and not me? I didn’t get one last time either! I think you owe me one.”

Marinette rolls her eyes and steps out of Chloe’s arms and into Alya’s. They all ignore how it was really Chloe giving Marinette a hug and not the other way around, but that’s what Marinette appreciates.

After giving them all a hug, Marinette grabs her bag out of her locker and shuts it. She fiddles with the lock before saying, “Thanks guys.”

“No need to thank us, Nette.”

“No place we'd rather be, really.”

“And no one else we’d rather be with.”

Marinette grins. She really does have the best friends in the world.

* * *

The five of them are on their way to the park, planning to eat their lunch at a table there, when Kagami shows up, asking if she can join them.

“You better,” Chloe responds with a small grin. “If I’m one of them, so are you.”

“You’re one of us?” Nino asks, faking a look of confusion. “Since when?” He forces a look of bewilderment.

“Oh, shut up!” Chloe laughs, but a small part of her is hesitant, knowing that what she did in the past may not have been forgiven as easily as she had thought.

“Hey,” Adrien says, when he notices her smile turn into a frown, along with downcast eyes, “you are one of us now.” He nudges her shoulder with his, grinning. She musters a small grin, but then frowns again.

“Thanks, but you guys really shouldn’t accept me that easily. I was so awful towards you for so long. You guys deserve better.”

“Chloe.” Marinette reaches out and grabs her arm. “You toned it down when Lila showed up and you know it. Before that there was some stuff, but it really wasn’t that bad. You weren’t anything like Lila.” She spits the name with disgust.

Chloe smirks at that. “That’s right, I’m a respectful bully! But really… even with all that—”

Marinette interrupts. “Chlo, we’re all different people than we were at the end of last school year back when you were doing all that stuff. We’re constantly changing and growing and it’s obvious we’re all striving to be better people.” Marinette pauses but before she can continue, Kagami speaks.

“From what I have seen, the five of you seem to be good friends. You have obviously changed, Chloe, and it seems as though you have made up for the things you did in your past.” She blushes a little, but looks Chloe directly in the eye and it’s obvious she’s being sincere.

“Okay,” Chloe whispers, her voice small. She straightens up, standing taller and looking them all in the eyes. “You guys have to tell me when I’m being unreasonable though. And if I don’t listen you have to promise to do what’s best for yourselves.”

“Sure,” they all respond, with slight sarcasm. They would for sure do their best to let Chloe know when she was taking things too far, because that’s what friends do. But they also believe in you when you’re at your worst, so they wouldn’t run unless there truly was no other choice.

Chloe rolls her eyes, and the six of them reach the table in the park. They clamber in, sitting down with three to a side, squeezing together slightly due to the size of the table.

“Well this is cozy,” Nino remarks. They all laugh. Because yes, it is rather cozy, but it’s something they all appreciate.

They’re such individual, distinct people that when they’re all together like this, it really is beautiful. Because an outsider might not see why they would all be friends, with their turbulent pasts with some, and the large differences in personality. But little things tie them together, and some larger things that they aren’t even aware of. And they continue to actively choose being friends, putting in the effort to talk to each other, and to stay close with one another.

Many people consider friendships to be easy and stress-free, devoid of the complications of romantic relationships and the effort required to maintain those relationships. But everyone sitting at that table knew that to be false. Friendships were no less work, and no less important than romantic relationships.

Some of them may have been with others, and some of them may have wanted to be with others, but underneath all that were the roots of their friendships, and all of them would never sacrifice that for anything.

As they begin walking back to school, Marinette and Adrien end up walking next to each other behind everyone else.

“Marinette?” Adrien is hesitant, unsure of whether or not what he has to say will be welcomed by her.

“Yeah?”

“I know that everyone already apologized about the whole Lila thing at the beginning of the year…”

Marinette winces, and Adrien internally winces as well. He knows that wasn’t a fun time for her. Not that now is either, but at least she has her friends on her side…as they should have been all along.

Adrien continues, “And I know I apologized already as well, but I think you deserve another apology.”

“Adrien, I don’t need—” Marinette sounds exasperatedly fond, but Adrien cuts her off.

“You may not need one, but you deserve it. Because this whole thing with her outing you and then lying about you reminds me of what she did at the beginning of the year. And I know it reminds you about that too. I also know that everyone treated you like… like shit and it has to hurt to remember that. It hurts me and I was one of the ones treating you like shit.”

“Adrien, you weren’t! You knew she was lying—”

Adrien interrupts her once again, “That’s the whole problem, Marinette! I knew she was lying and I did nothing.” Adrien’s voice is slightly choked up and his eyes are beginning to water. “I did nothing.” He repeats sadly. Then he laughs deprecatingly and says, “No, that’s a lie. I told you — I told you that we should just let her lie because she wasn’t hurting anyone.” He turns to look Marinette in the eyes. “She was hurting you, Marinette. And I’m sorry I was too caught up in staying out of a confrontation to realize that you were hurting.”

Marinette’s own eyes begin to water and she hesitantly steps towards Adrien. He opens his arms and she tucks herself into them, digging her face into his chest, while his arms tighten around her.

“Thanks, Adrien.” She sniffles. “It means a lot that you’d apologize again, even though your first apology was fine.”

“Just fine though. I’m sorry it took so long for me to give you the apology you deserve.”

“It’s all good now,” Marinette says, stepping out of his arms and continuing their walk back to school. “We’re stronger because of this. And we all have each other.”

It was true, they did all have each other now. And it was obvious, with the way Chloe and Alya were loudly discussing Ladybug and Chat Noir, and Alya’s Ladyblog at the front of the group. Their voices were loud, but they were playful and energetic, loud because of their enthusiasm, not because of the animosity that would have been found there not too long ago. It was obvious with the way Nino was shaking his head and chuckling softly at their antics. It was obvious with the way Kagami interrupted them every once in a while, being sure to add in her point of view, which would launch a whole new tangent of their discussion. It was obvious with the way Marinette dried her eyes and smiled, content in the moment, happy that things were looking up for all of them. It was obvious with the way Adrien’s shoulders weren’t quite as tense as they had been that morning on the school stairs.

And it was obvious with the way everyone turned to face each other once they’d reached the school, making sure to properly say their see you laters before they all had to split up for their classes. And it was obvious with the way they reacted to Marinette’s slightly visible tear tracks, with one of them shouting something about a group hug. And it was obvious in the way their arms found their way around each other, gripping tightly, holding each other for a moment, reassuring in the way their laughter bounced around and remained in the air, a sign of hope for them all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Feedback is always appreciated!


	3. Chapter 3

Nino’s mind has been stuck in a loop since last Friday, the only thing running through his mind: _Marinette is Ladybug, Marinette is Ladybug, Marinette is Ladybug…_ Over and over and over again, stuck on repeat.

Friday night he’d been in a state of shock, causing questions from his parents at dinner, which he’d been able to wave off since it was the end of a long week. It had been a little close for comfort though. And it had taken him hours to actually fall asleep, what with his mind on the repetitive loop of _Marinette is Ladybug, Marinette is Ladybug, Marinette is Ladybug…_ Needless to say, he hadn’t exactly slept well that night.

Saturday he woke up tired, but managed to slowly come around to the truth and accept it. He had wanted to talk to Marinette, but he, knew that she definitely still needed time to process, and if he was entirely honest, he probably needed more time himself. He sent her a quick text and was surprised when she responded rather quickly.

**Nino (ur 1st friend don’t u forget it):** i know we both need time to process what happened

and i'm not trying to like force a convo or anything

i want to just reassure you

but like idk what to say

you’re great nette

i'm proud of you

and scared for you

and i love you

and i’m glad we’re friends

idk what i'm saying

i guess just don’t be scared about my reaction???

love youuu

**nette:** Thanks Nino

I think I get what you're saying

What you said was really nice

I love you too

And I’m glad we’re friends

You're great too Nino

Sunday Nino was kind of stressed, but also had a ton of homework to complete, so he forced the whole thing out of his brain, but that didn’t work so well. He tried to go about his day as normal though and just get through everything until he could talk to Marinette.

On Monday, Nino is immensely stressed until he gets to school. And when Marinette walks up, he feels as cool as a cucumber. Things are entirely normal between them for the entirety of the day, but after the last bell rings, he begins to feel the stress start creeping back in. As everyone leaves the classroom to make their way to the locker room to gather all their stuff before leaving for home, somehow Nino manages to maneuver things so that he and Mari are walking behind Adrien, Alya, and Chloe, who are inevitably once again all talking about Chat Noir and Ladybug.

“Listen, Nette, we never really got to talk about what happened on Friday.” Nino broaches the topic carefully, and quietly, knowing the three people in front of them all have some sort of super hearing when it comes to Paris’ favorite super heroes being mentioned. Marinette hums, and Nino gets the feeling this is going to be more difficult than he thought it would be. “I wanted to give you some space and I needed to process things too, but don’t you think we should talk or something?”

“I’m sorry, Nino. I did want space and time to process, but I guess you’re right. We should talk about this because I don’t suppose you feel like just putting all of this behind you and forgetting all about it?” Marinette sounds tired and worn out, and Nino hates that he’s causing her more stress.

“Of course I can’t just forget about it, Marinette!” He does a kind of whisper shriek that he immediately regrets, because their three friends look back at them with confused looks that he knows will just lead to questions and interest that won’t go away. “Sorry guys. I was just trying to get Nette’s help with a film contest I want to enter in. I need help with costume ideas. Any chance we could all catch up later?”

The three of them all nod, and they all say their goodbyes, even if there is interest remaining in their eyes as Nino and Marinette decide to go get coffee. The other three want to join, but Adrien has basketball practice, Alya is babysitting her sisters and has to get home if she wants to get any sort of work done, and Chloe is having dinner with her parents. No one looks particularly excited about what they have to do this evening, and even though Nino and Marinette appear to be doing something more fun than the other three, they aren’t exactly pleased either.

After getting coffee and walking over to a bench, Marinette decides to just beat around the bush and get to the point of their whole conversation, but Nino beats her to talking.

“I suppose now I have to find a film contest to enter so no one gets suspicious.” Nino groans slightly before looking over at Marinette and grinning. She grins slightly as well, before bursting into tears. “Oh, Nette,” Nino whispers, gently taking her coffee from her hands and setting it, along with his own coffee, on the ground away from the danger zone of their feet.

“I’m sorry,” Marinette hiccups, tears still streaming down her face.

“Don’t apologize. There’s no need,” Nino says, gathering her into a hug. She immediately relaxes against him, slumping into him and putting her weight on him like she knows he’ll support her. He does, with his hands rubbing her back, and his voice whispering words of comfort into her ears.

“It’s just that you’re the only one who knows.” Marinette’s voice is soft and Nino immediately stills.

“Chat Noir, he doesn’t know?” Nino immediately questions, feeling himself slump slightly into Marinette because he knows what her answer is going to be before she says it.

“No, he doesn’t know yet. We’re going to tell each other soon. But he doesn’t know right now.” Marinette sounds stressed, with her voice catching, and Nino knows she’s about to break down, if she hasn't already started.

“Guess I’m the first to be graced with learning Ladybug’s true identity…” Nino trails off. He had hoped this would get Marinette to laugh, but she still looks miserable, curled up against him. “Listen, I don’t know what to say here. I don’t know what to say that will make this better and I don’t know how to help you because this is … this situation is kind of crazy, you know?” Marinette does laugh here, agreeing with him, because yes, the situation they’re in is pretty crazy. “I don’t know how to say this the right way, but I’m both really glad and really upset that you’re Ladybug.”

Marinette stiffens slightly, moving to pull away, just as Nino knew she would, but he’s not good with words, she knows this, and he knows she’ll give him a chance. She always does. She truly is an everyday Ladybug.

“There isn’t anyone who would be better suited for the job, who I would trust as much to protect the city, who perfectly encompasses the job entirely. Ladybug is such a symbol of hope, and positivity and that’s who you are, Marinette. It’s who you’ve always been. But holy fucking shit, Nette. You’re Ladybug! You’re in so much danger and you’ve done so much dangerous stuff and it’s kind of unbelievable but at the same time it’s totally believable because that’s just who you are. And… how the fuck are you managing everything? God, Marinette, you must be under so much pressure.”

Marinette is sobbing now, and moves back into his arms before whispering, “Thank you, Nino. That means a lot. And I think you did a good job of figuring out what to say, so don’t worry about that.” Marinette laughs sightly. “It’s a lot. I think it’s kind of getting worse…” She trails off. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be dumping this on you. I need to talk to Chat.”

She extracts herself from his arms and stands up, throwing him her arm to help him up. She pulls him into a long hug, before slightly slapping his back, and Nino grins. She’s going to be okay. “Thank you, Nino.” She looks in his eyes, and he sees that hers are sincere, as always. “This means a lot, and I really appreciate you. You’re a really great friend and I’m glad that we made up. I’ll try to keep my Ladybug problems out of your life, though because you don’t need to be stressing about them.”

“Marinette… You are Ladybug. Your ‘Ladybug problems’ are your problems. And as your friend, your problems are my problems. I want to be there for you, okay? I’m glad that you’re going to tell Chat because I think he can help better than I can, but I’m still here for you, okay? Please don’t try to deal with all of this on your own just because you view me as a civilian.”

“You’re really great, Nino.” Marinette has tears in her eyes, but she’s smiling wide, and Nino thinks he’s done okay with this.

“Says you,” he scoffs. Here’s _the_ Ladybug telling him he's great. She rolls her eyes. “Thanks, Nette, but we’re friends. I’m just being a good one. And you’re really great too.”

After retrieving their coffees and exchanging goodbyes, they walk in opposite directions down the street, each with a small smile on their face and a pep in their step that wasn’t there before.


	4. Chapter 4

The next day at school, Marinette feels a rare sense of calm. She’s so busy, she always has been, and school has always been just another responsibility. But when she shows up, she and Nino share a small grin and she feels seen and supported. She knows that once she tells Chat who she is, that feeling of support will only increase, but she’s still scared.

“What’s going on there?” Marinette gestures to Alya and Chloe who stand a few feet away from them and are clearly involved in an argument over something. Alya’s hands are in her hair and Chloe is waving her arms dramatically.

“Oh, you know, the usual discussion about Chat Noir and Ladybug,” he smirks here and she shoves him with her shoulder, rolling her eyes, “but this time they’re arguing about something involving that movie that was announced last night.”

“Huh.” It makes sense, she supposes. “What movie?”

Nino blinks at her.

“You know.” Now he’s the one waving his arms dramatically. “The one about Ladybug and Chat Noir.”

“What’s that, now?” Marinette’s head snaps from Alya and Chloes conversation back to Nino in time to see his incredulous expression.

“You’re telling me that you didn’t _know_ about this?”

“Why would I?” Marinette is confused and Nino’s expression only becomes more incredulous. “I don’t check the news that often and I sure don’t have some sort of alert set up like Alya does.”

“You’re killing me, ‘Nette,” Nino groans, covering his face with his hands in total exasperation.

The bell rings and Marinette is saved from the rest of the conversation. Their group makes their way to the locker room, meeting up with Adrien and Kagami who had been talking to their fencing coach.

“I cannot believe that we are getting the least amount of matches! And that the new members are getting more matches than us!” This is the most disheveled they’ve ever seen Kagami.

“I know! Like, yeah, equal opportunities and all that, but this is competitive and we’ve put in so much work. I honestly wouldn’t really care if it weren’t for my father. He’s going to be so upset.”

“Oh, I know. My mother too.”

“Sounds rough, my dudes.”

“Yeah, competitive sports kinda suck. And parental expectations.”

There’s a chorus of, “Damn right.” They may not all play competitive sports or have awful parents, but they could all relate (to different levels, of course) to the expectations their parents had for them. “

At least there is no practice today,” Kagami says, looking on the bright side. “We do not have to see his ugly-ass lying face today. It will be a nice break.”

The group stands in stunned silence. Marinette doesn’t think they’ve ever heard Kagami swear before. Not that they’ve spent all that much time with her, but it’s still a shock.

Kagami rolls her eyes. “You all did not think I never swear did you?” She pauses and a glint comes into her eyes. “Fucking dumbasses.” She smirks.

Chloe is the first to crack up in laughter, the sound echoing around them. The others are quick to join.

And then they’re splitting up and going to their respective classes and making it through the day. Marinette is stressed — of course she is— but every time she sees any of her friends, or sits next to them in classes she feels a little less stressed and everything feels a little more manageable. And when she sees Nino, he gives her knowing smiles that make her smile in return.

And then the school day is over and they all make their way outside and stand under the overhead of the building in the shelter offered by the roof. It’s raining and none of them want to leave quite yet. It’s interesting because their conversations are typically loud and full of energy, but the rain causes them to talk quieter and things are more relaxed and laid back. Marinette isn’t sure what she prefers, but she knows tomorrow their conversations will go right back to normal — loud and obnoxious and quintessentially them.

Alya is telling Nino and Marinette about her theories on who the cast of the Ladybug and Chat Noir movie will be while Chloe stands there pouting, occasionally interjecting with her own opinion. Kagami seems to be listening to Chloe and trying to keep things peaceful.

“Adrien, dude— sorry Alya.” Alya rolls her eyes and gives a small harumph at being interrupted, but turns and greets Adrien with a smile. He doesn’t usually leave with all of them because of all the different sports he does, so the interruption is warranted in this case.

“Hey, Nino. And everyone else.” Adrien smiles at them, but Marinette can see that it doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

“I thought you had basketball practice today.” “Normally I do, but it was cancelled. What are you all still doing here?”

Chloe gestures to the scene in front of them. “Um, hello, it’s _raining_. I’m not going out until it’s absolutely necessary.”

“Oh.” Adrien’s voice is small and he’s sort of curling into himself, realizing the rain and the difficulties it will give him in getting home. Marinette hates to see this.

“Adrien, your car isn’t going to get here for awhile, right?” Adrien nods. “Why don’t you come over? You look like you could use a nap. Or some food. Or both.”

“Are you sure, Marinette? I don’t want to be a bother.”

At this the five of them share a concerned glance. The fact that being a bother even crosses his mind bothers them.

“Adrien, you’re never a bother.” Marinette’s voice is soft, her eyes sincere. Adrien agrees to come over and after hanging out for a few more minutes in hopes of avoiding the rain, eventually they all make their way into the downpour.

Chloe shrieks and Kagami laughs at her, a second going by before the others join. Once they reach the bottom of the stairs, Alya grabs Marinette’s hands and spins them around, their laughter echoing off the stone around them and swirling up into the clouds in the sky, hidden by the sheet of rain that’s pouring down.

They all take a minute and act like the teenagers they are. Chloe gives in and she and Kagami start spinning too. Adrien and Nino look over at each other and soon they’re all twirling, spinning around each other, smiling, laughing, shrieking with joy.

And then the school janitor, who often times acts as the security guard, comes out and yells at them to get home and out of the rain. They laugh again and say their goodbyes and go their separate ways home.

* * *

“Marinette! You’re soaking wet! And you as well, Adrien, dear,” Marinette’s mother scolds them, but it’s clear she’s fighting back a smile as she asks what they were up to. “It’s not even raining that hard!” There’s laughter in her voice and a grin on Marinette’s face when she apologizes.

“Sorry, Maman. And it _was_ raining pretty hard a few minutes ago.”

“Sure, dear.” Her mother rolls her eyes in fond exasperation. “Why don’t you two go on up and get into some clothes. Marinette do you think you could find something for Adrien to wear?”

Marinette loves her mother a little less in this moment. Of course she’ll be able to find something for Adrien to wear— she uses his measurements whenever she practices making more masculine clothing. It’s possible this won’t be something Adrien notices, but she’s sure her mother is hoping he does. She loves meddling a little too much for Marinette’s tastes.

“I’m sure we’ll manage,” she says tightly. Her maman grins widely in return and does a really terrible job of hiding the glint in her eyes. Marinette narrows her eyes at her maman before grabbing Adrien’s hand and dragging him up the stairs away from the bakery and into her room.

She goes over to her dresser and kneels, pulling out the bottom drawer. She pulls out the most comfortable clothes she’s made and hands them to Adrien.

“The bathroom is downstairs to the left. And if you’re cold and want to take a shower just let me know so I can get you a towel.”

“Thanks, Marinette. I think I’m good.” He hesitates. “We’ll just have to have hot chocolate, yeah?”

“Yeah, Adrien. That sounds nice.” She smiles at him and he makes his way to the bathroom to change.

As soon as he’s out of her room, Marinette opens her little purse and lets Tiki out as she turns back to her dresser to dig out some dry clothes for herself.

Tiki makes a noise and Marinette looks over at her as she peels off her wet clothes, throwing them on the ground near her trap door. She’ll have to do a load of laundry today. She inwardly groans; she hates laundry.

“Ugh, I hate the rain,” Tiki complains. She’s shaking her whole body, trying to get all the water off of her. She looks pitiful and her big eyes look so sad.

“Why don’t you go over by the heater? You’ll warm up pretty fast and I’m sure you can find some cookies over there.”

“Thanks, Marinette.”

Tiki flies off and not a moment too late because Adrien is knocking on her door asking if he can come back in.

“Or should I go back down if we’re having hot chocolate? If we’re still doing that, that is.”

“Yeah, hold on,” Marinette calls out. She walks over and joins him. “I’ll go down with you. Do you want me to wash your clothes? That way they’ll be dry when you leave and you don’t have to deal with carrying them.”

“Oh, sure.”

After Marinette has tossed their clothes in the washer and gotten it started, they make their way to the kitchen where she pulls out two mugs. They make their hot chocolate in relative silence, the only interruptions questions about where they keep their spoons and apologies over milk spilled across the counter. Marinette laughs in return and they sop up the mess before heading to the couch.

Marinette sprawls out and she thinks Adrien is sprawling more than usual, which she takes as a good sign. When she looks closer, though, she sees that the hand that isn’t holding his mug is twisting and gripping his leg. It’s obvious that he’s nervous and before she gets the chance to ask what’s up, he speaks.

“D’you remember when Lila outed you?” He winces. “Sorry, of course you do. Dumb question. But, um, do you remember what you told me afterwards? Like that it was cool if I’m gay or straight or I don’t know or don’t prefer labels?” He pauses, finally looking up at her.

“Yeah, I remember that.” Marinette nods slowly, unsure of where this conversation is going, but starting to get an idea. “What’s up?”

“Well, I was doing some research. You know, because I don’t know much about all this and I want to?” Adrien’s words are unsure, but he keeps going. “And, well, there’s a lot, you know? But I guess — sorry, I can talk to Nino about this. It’d probably be better.” Adrien seems closed off again and Marinette’s small smile turns into a frown.

“If you’re more comfortable talking to Nino, then you should and I won’t force you to talk to me about anything you don’t want to. But I’m always here to listen, Adrien.”

Adrien looks into her eyes and smiles, taking a breath before saying, “I don’t really know the right way to say any of this…”

“That’s okay, just take your time.”

“I guess— I don’t think I’ve really had that many crushes before? Like I don’t know what a ‘normal’ amount is,” Adrien says, using finger quotes around the word normal, “and I’m not sure if that’s because I was homeschooled? Like I was still around other people my age with modeling and I’ve always done sports and stuff. But I’ve never really had many friends and I guess I’ve never really had many crushes either. And so I’m not sure if I like guys or not because I haven’t liked any in the past, but I feel like I could? I’m not really sure if that makes sense or not.”

“No, I get what you’re saying. Don’t worry, it makes sense.”

“Okay, good. So, anyways, um I guess most of my crushes have been on people I’m friends with or people I know pretty well. And I’m not sure what that really means, I guess. I mean, there’s more too, but that’s the first part.”

“Well, it sounds like you might be demi? Or maybe pan? Obviously you’ll have to do more research on your own until you find something that feels right and just fits. Or not, if that’s not your thing. I can’t tell you who you are and how you feel, but I’m still here to help in any way I can.”

“Thanks, Marinette. I hadn’t found anything about being demi, so I guess I’ll start my research there.”

“Hey, no problem. I just hope what I say is more help than hindrance.” She smiles at him, and he smiles back. “Oh, what was the other thing?”

Marinette is curious, but Adrien seems to almost freeze up when she asks.

“Oh, um. That was the part I might talk to Nino about,” he says, avoiding her eyes. “I’m not sure if you’d be comfortable with it.”

She narrows her eyes slightly, before a small smirk takes over her face, softening into a smile.

“Is it about sex?” Her voice is nonchalant, and if this had been any other occasion she would have laughed at Adrien’s response. She does smile though.

His head whips up, ears turning red, and squeaks out, “Yeah. How’d you know?”

“Educated guess, I suppose. Listen, if you’re not comfortable talking about it with me, you can talk to Nino. If you’re worried about his reaction to whatever you want to tell him or talk about, you shouldn’t be. You guys are close and he’d do anything to make you happy. We all would. But you _can_ talk to me about it. Just do whatever makes you feel most comfortable.”

“I’ll probably talk to Nino.” Adrien shrugs. “I’m sorry, though.” His voice is small and Marinette hates the way he curls into himself and makes himself smaller anytime he thinks someone will disagree or be mad about what he’s saying. “I do trust you, I just —“

“Adrien, I know you trust me. You don’t have to worry about, like, offending me or anything. I just want you to know that I'm here if you ever want to talk. I’m not going to force you though, and I’m not going to be upset if you choose to talk to someone else about something.”

“Thanks, Marinette. This was really nice and I appreciate how you’re always there and how you’re just — you’re just so good, Marinette. Like, you help everyone all the time and it just means a lot. And talking to me about this? That means a lot too because I know I could talk to any of the rest of our friends, but you have this…you have this calming presence? I’m not really sure how to explain it, but I just feel calm around you. Like I’m comfortable around the others, obviously, but it’s different when I’m with you. So thank you.”

Marinette’s eyes are not watering, they’re not (they are). She slides over to where Adrien is sitting on the other side of the couch and then they’re hugging, wrapped in each other’s arms and comfortable and content. They aren’t clinging to each other — they both know the other isn’t going anywhere — they’re simply holding each other, enough to know they’re not alone.

“Thanks, Adrien. That — that means a lot. I feel comfortable around you too. I know,” she shoves her head into his chest a bit and Adrien’s arms tighten around her slightly. “I know I used to be a mess around you, but now that I know you, I feel calm whenever I’m with you.” Adrien hums in response, his face pushing against Marinette’s hair as she giggles slightly.

“You feel like home, Marinette.”

Marinette pulls out of his arms and cups his face, tilting it up so she can see him. His eyes are slightly red, and there’s a blush on his cheeks, but he has a hesitant smile on his face.

“You feel like home, too, Adrien.”

And then their faces are inching closer, their lips almost touching, when the door bangs open. They don’t jump apart. Instead, they both roll their eyes, and Marinette rests her head on his shoulder, giving his neck a slight peck, before pulling away horrified. Adrien’s hand finds hers and squeezes.

“It’s okay, Mari. Don’t freak out,” Adrien whispers into her hair.

“Wasn’t,” she grumbles, and she feels Adrien chuckle as her papa is makes his way into the room.

“Ma cherie!” He bellows, and Marinette grins, leaving Adrien and his warm embrace and making her way over to her papa.

“Papa!”

They hug and he lifts her off the ground while she squeals in delight. He laughs and sets her back down, noticing Adrien on the couch. “Adrien, mon garcon, good to see you again!”

Adrien grins in response and says, “You too, Monsieur.”

“Oh, none of that crap, Adrien. I’ve told you—call me Tom.” “Sure thing, Monsieur Tom.” Marinette and her papa roll their eyes in fond exasperation, both with smiles on their faces. “I’ll get you to call me Tom one of these days.” Tom trails off, heading over to the kitchen to get started on dinner. “You staying for dinner, Adrien? We’d love to have you.”

“Oh,” Adrien says in surprise. He looks over at Marinette and when she nods he says, “Sure. Thank you, Monsieur, uh, Tom.”

“Sure thing. Why don’t you two play some UMS? Which version is the latest one, ma petite chou?”

“Oh, Papa,” Marinette sighs. Her papa laughs. “Yeah, that sounds good. What do you think, Adrien?”

“Yeah, that sounds fun. Maybe you’ll finally be able to win.” He smirks as she scoffs in outrage.

“I win almost every game! I think you need to reevaluate and try again with your trash talk. It’s not very accurate.”

“I think I’ll be fine.” He smirks, resting his hand on her shoulder before letting it trail down her arm. Marinette’s eyes narrow and Tom is laughing in the background.

* * *

After dinner, and all the long embarrassing stories Marinette’s parents told that made her face turn red and remain red throughout the dinner (although Marinette supposes it was kind of worth it to see Adrien’s eyes light up and smiling his soft smile when he met her eyes, not that she’d ever admit it), Adrien grabs his clothes from the dryer and makes his way to the door.

“Wait!” Marinette all but shrieks, running to her room and returning with a familiar black umbrella. “It’s still raining,” she says, blushing slightly.

Adrien laughs softly, before grabbing the umbrella Marinette is holding out to him. She’s not looking at him, so she misses the way his eyes mist up (and since she’s not him she doesn’t feel the butterflies that erupt in his stomach.

“Thanks, Marinette. I’ll give this back tomorrow.”

“But it’s yours,” Marinette says, almost like a question. “I’m sorry I kept it for so long, but now you can have it back.”

“I think it belongs with you,” Adrien says, before kissing Marinette’s cheek gently and turning to make his way home.

Almost as soon as Adrien leaves, the phone rings. It’s an extension for the bakery phone and the Dupain-Cheng family all grimace.

“Allô?” Sabine answers the phone. “Oui, this is the Dupain-Cheng Patisserie. How can I help you?”

The person on the other end of the phone is speaking and Marinette can’t make out what they’re saying, but she can see the way her maman’s face tightens and glances over to her and her papa.

“Yes, we can do that. You’ll have to pay extra since it’s short notice and extra for the delivery, though.”

Her maman sighs.

“Okay, so you would like 400 macarons delivered two days from now?”

There’s a pause while the customer responds.

“Yes, we’ll send the bill to the information you provided. The prices should all be on the website, including the extra charges you’ll have to pay.”

Another pause.

“Oui. Bonne soir.”

She hangs up the phone and sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. “You two heard we need 400 macarons in two days, right? This wouldn’t normally be a problem, but we’ve also got that other order that all the employees are working on, and Tom, we’re leaving in just a few hours to go visit your cousin and help out his husband with everything that’s going on.”

“Maman, it’s okay. 400 macarons isn’t the most we’ve had to make in this amount of time—“

“I know, ma cherie, but we have less people this time. If Papa and I leave you’ll be responsible for making all the macarons by yourself and that’s just too much to put on you.” Sabine turns to Tom. “Tom, I don’t know what to do. We need to go visit your cousin and make sure they’re doing alright, but we can’t just leave with this order and no one to fill it.”

“Maman. I can do it. I know it’s a lot, but I can get my friends to come help me tomorrow if that makes you feel better. And I’m very good at running on very little sleep, so this won’t be anything new, really.”

“Tom?” Sabine glances at Tom to see what he thinks of their daughter’s idea.

“Are you sure, Marinette? You can say no, you know. You say yes to so many things mon petite chou. I want to make sure you’re not stretching yourself too thin.”

Marinette thinks of her schoolwork and Ladybug and designing new clothes and hanging out with her friends and helping her classmates.

“I’m not, Papa. I can handle this. I’ll get a head start tonight and get some help tomorrow and things will be fine. Family is important. You should go help them and I’ll help out around here.”

“Oh, how’d we get so lucky?” Her parents ask, ruffling her hair and pulling her in for a Dupain-Cheng family hug.

“I’m the lucky one. To have you guys as parents.” Tom tightens his arms around his two girls, and they all smile, pushing the stressful thoughts to the backs of their minds.

Marinette works on her homework while her parents run around getting everything they’ll need for their trip to the country over the next few days. She gets to physics and gives up, knowing she can just ask Adrien for help at lunch tomorrow. Marinette goes downstairs to say goodbye to her parents, rolling her eyes as they freak out over everything.

“And remember dear, Antoine is in charge, since that really would have been too much to put on your shoulders, so you don’t need to worry about anything going on in the bakery except for the macarons. Oh, Tom, are you sure we should be leaving her here to do this all on her own? What if it’s too much?”

“I know it’s a lot, but Marinette says she can handle it. That being said, if it gets to be too much, you call us and we’ll call the customer and explain the situation. We’d rather cancel an order than have you overwork yourself. Remember that.” Her papa is more serious than normal, looking into her eyes without any sort of humor lighting up his.

“I will, I promise. But I really do think I can handle this. And I’ve got friends who can help me.”

Their good byes drag on before her parents finally grab their bags and leave, shutting the door behind them. Marinette returns to her room to change into something she can get messy while she bakes. Tiki floats over from her spot by the heater and frowns a little.

“I’m not sure I like this plan, Marinette. You’re already busy and you don’t get enough sleep as it is. Can’t your family just decline the order? Say you’re busy and that they should have given more notice?”

“It’ll be fine, Tiki.” Marinette rolls her eyes. Her kwami worries too much. “We could say that, and Maman and Papa said that if it gets to be too much, we will say that, but we’re still a pretty small business and we can’t just say no to offers. Besides, it won’t be too bad.”

She looks at the clock and sees that it’s only 7 o’clock. She has plenty of time.

She does not have plenty of time. Four hours later she has around 50 macarons made, which is a pretty large number of macarons, sure, but she needs 400 and she’d also really like to sleep. But it’s only 11, so she keeps going.

Seconds after she pops a new batch into the oven, her phone goes off, chiming with her special notification for akuma sightings. Marinette figures she has about 20 minutes before the macarons absolutely have to come out of the oven, and typically she needs to recharge after 20 minutes anyways, so she leaves the macarons in the oven.

“Are you sure about that, Marinette?” Tiki asks, skeptical.

“I really can’t afford to waste any time. That’s 50 more macarons right there and if they don’t go in now, they’ll get all weird. We’ll just have to make it back in time.”

They don’t make it back in time.

Things could be worse, Marinette supposes, as she takes the pan from the oven and sets it on the counter. At least the place didn’t burn down. She’ll just have to work faster.

Tiki is nibbling on a cookie (not a macaron — they have none to spare) and Marinette is sitting on the counter, leaning against the wall.

It had taken far longer than she was expecting to find the akuma and she honestly still wasn’t entirely sure what its goal was. She and Chat were working hard, but they hadn’t needed to recharge 20 minutes in and the excuses she tried to give were abysmal, so she kept fighting. And now she’ll have to keep fighting again.

Marinette sighs as Tiki finishes her cookie and makes her way into the earrings, covering her in the Ladybug suit. She swings her way back to the fight, yawning occasionally. Marinette is exhausted and just wants the fight to be over. She wants to sleep but she still has to finish making the macarons.

Soon enough they defeat the akuma and Ladybug and Chat Noir find themselves on a roof. They don’t have much time before their miraculous run out, but Marinette wants more of a break and in her mind, hanging out on a roof with Chat Noir qualifies.

“Tough fight tonight,” Chat remarks, swinging his legs back and forth in the empty space where the roof meets the night sky.

“Yeah. Tough night tonight, really,” Ladybug grouches and only realizes when Chat’s legs pause.

“Everything okay, bug?”

“Yeah. Yeah, everything is fine. I just have a lot I need to get done.” Ladybug sighs. “I would…I would ask for your help if we knew who we were outside of the masks—“

Chat whistles. "Must be bad if you're saying that."

Ladybug rolls her eyes before continuing, “But I just can’t deal with a reveal right now even though I really want to.”

Ladybug is exhausted and she leans her head onto Chat’s shoulder, knowing that he’ll make her feel better.

“I’m sorry, Ladybug. I wish I could help. It would have been awfully convenient if we’d know each others identities from the beginning, don’t you think?”

There’s a pause.

“Not — I’m not complaining about you or the decisions you made, I promise. Just like, if the guardian had let us or encouraged us to reveal ourselves, you know?”

“I think so, Chaton.”

They sit in the silence for a few moments before Chat breaks it.

“I’m scared too, you know.” His voice is quiet and Ladybug almost has to strain to hear it. “I’m scared that you won’t like who I am without this.” He gestures to his suit. “I’m scared that our relationship will change and that things will be different.”

There’s more silence and then he takes a breath.

“I guess, what I mean by all of this is…when we first met we didn’t know each other, you know? We didn’t have any expectations for each other or ideas about who the other was or any of that. We met and we grew together and we became friends.

“And I love our friendship, I really, really do. But we’re also hiding huge parts of ourselves and I’m scared about how that’s going to impact our friendship and it just makes me wonder what things would be like if we’d known from the beginning, I guess.”

“No, I get it, Chaton. Really.” Her earrings beep and the same sound comes from Chat’s ring a second later. They stand up, saying their goodbyes and turning to part ways before Ladybug rushes back and throws her arms around Chat for a moment, two moments, three moments, whispering something in his ear before stepping back and launching herself away and onto another roof.

“You help more than you know, by the way. Please don’t forget that.”

Ladybug doesn’t know this, but Chat makes his way home with a smile on his face. Chat doesn’t know this, but Ladybug makes her way home with a frown on her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone is doing okay!
> 
> I'm sorry it's been so long without an update. This one was pretty long though so I hope that kind of makes up for the wait? Honestly though this chapter just kept getting longer and longer and I didn't quite get to everything I had planned, so that'll be in the next one and I'm excited...
> 
> Also all the stuff with the macarons is entirely made up. I have no idea how hard it would be for her to do that on her own but it's supposed to be a lot.
> 
> My goal is to finish this story by the end of the year, so we'll see how that goes.
> 
> Let me know what you think!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope everyone is doing as well as they can be. It's been a long time but here's something... I hope you like it! Let me know if you have any suggestions for titles or anything else! Feedback is always appreciated!


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